Desh Kaa Culture Agri-Culture

Hi, Agrarians !

"Desh Kaa Culture Agri-Culture"

This was one of the slogan tought to us when we stepped into Ranchi Agricultural College of BAU, Jharkhand. Those were the times when I was in my late teens and I hardly cared to know about the indepth meaning of the slogan.

But now, when I am done with my graduation and post graduation. I can see the complete picture.

In Indian contest "DESH KAA CULTURE AGRI-CULTURE", is really true.

Our Agriculture,
Is the source of livelihood & Employment for more than 60% of the population
It acts as a feeder and booster of other industries
It is the only sector where you can sow one seed and reap a handful of grains

With development, the relationship between different sectors have beomce webbed and their interdependency has increased. But, Agri-sector is still the mother of all sectors, the growth of Agri leads to holistic growth, unlike other sectors whose benefits are limited to a small fraction of the population.


It seems funny to me when professionals debate about agriculture being highly subsidised by the government, whereas i feel that it is the agriculture sector which is subsidising others.

My Calculation says that, the market price of agricultural produce is much less than its cost of production.

Lets take a crop as an example; let it be paddy (as it is widely cultivated througout India)
and try to prepare a qualitative Profit and Loss (P&L) account of the same.

Fortunately government announces MSP (minimum support price) of Paddy and has purchasing agencies to support this price. But still in most parts of our country like Bihar, U.P, Orissa, M.P etc. MSP becomes Maximum support price, as the realisation by the farmers is always less than MSP.
But still for the purpose of calculation, we will consider MSP.
Total Revenue:
Sales of paddy @ MSP
Sales of Paddy husk
Expenditures:-
I) Direct Costs:
Cost of land
Cost of land prepration
Cost of seeds
Cost of sowing
Cost of pesticide management
Cost of fertilisers and manures
Cost of harvesting
Cost of marketing (Packaging & Transportation)
Cost of labour @ MNREGS rates (as it is taken as standard)
Cost of Capital
II) Indirect Cost:
Cost of sub-standard conditions of living (scarcity of electricity + Improper health srvices)
Cost of sub-standard education facility to their kids
Total Expenditure = Direct Cost + Indirect Cost
Profit/Loss= Total Revenue - Total Expenditure

Taking all the variables under consideration and follwing the above methodology, is the business of agriculture still profitable?

If the answer is No then why are farmers still doing farming.
It is because of our culture, It teaches us to feed others even if you are hungry.
Farmers are still doing farming because they are making profit, but in the process they are providing their labour at a much cheaper rate than what is being announced by the government in MNREGA.
Small and Marginal Farmers who form 85% of the farming population is subsidising the society by providing food grains at a cheaper rate produced from cheap labour.
Our farmers cannot stop farming as our culture is agriculture" DESH KAA CULTURE AGRI-CULTURE" . Farmers keeps working irrespective of all odds and unlike goverment departments which frequently goes on strike for one reason or the other.

Om